INTRODUCTION

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A. Development constraints and environmental awareness

Nepal remained isolated from the rest of the world until 1951, when the government embarked on the task of development. Top priority was accorded to creating a minimal required human resource base, and to developing the physical and institutional infrastructure which was necessary to the implementation of any meaningful economic development effort on a sustained basis.

Some of the available important socio-economic and physical indicators from 1956, when the country started the process of "planned" development, illustrate the difficulties which faced Nepal at that time. In the mid-1950s, the 147,181 sq km of the country supported a total population of some 8.47 million persons, 98 per cent of whom were rural-based and dependent on agriculture (Central Bureau of Statistics, 1961). The total population density of roughly 64 persons per sq km in 1961 was already high for the size of the country. It was even higher when considering the very low available area of arable land and the overwhelming dependence of the economy on the agricultural sector. For example, the national population density in terms of persons per hectare of arable land was estimated at 2.12 people in 1961/62, while it was as high as 4.76 in the hill and mountain region. The corresponding figure for the plains was around 1 person per hectare (Central Bureau of Statistics, 1962).

Population density is one of the main sources of the environmental problems facing Nepal.

In comparison to the rugged physical terrain and the difficulty of access to most parts of the country, physical infrastructure up until 1956/57 comprised: 259 kilometres of paved roads and 365 kilometres of fair-weather roads (providing a road density of a mere 0.42 km per 100 sq km); one all-weather and four fair-weather airports; 350 telephone lines; 124 post offices; 6 megawatts of electricity generating capacity; approximately 25,000 hectares of land fed by irrigation systems; 72 dispensaries (Department of Publicity, 1964a); and 265 primary, 203 lower secondary (i.e., up to grade 8), and 21 secondary schools (Department of Publicity, 1964b).

In 1956/57, the infant and crude mortality rates were 197 and 30.37 per 1,000, respectively, while life expectancy was as low as 27.6 years (Ministry of Finance, 1996). The literacy rate of the population aged 5 years and above, defined in terms of the ability to read and write one's own name, according to the 1952-1954 census, was estimated at 5.3 per cent. The female and male literacy rates were 0.7 and 9.5 per cent, respectively (Ministry of Finance, 1996). The primary school enrolment rate was estimated as low as 1 per cent in 1956 (National Planning Commission, 1980).

In terms of institutional capacity and trained manpower, at the time of the political change of 1951 the country "had only about 300 graduates to manage the whole administrative, judicial as well as political branches of the country" (Upadhayay, 1991). In 1952, the total number of technically trained personnel was only 137, with not a single professionally trained forester in the country (Bhattarai, 1969).

The situation regarding public finance was bleak, and although the situation appeared to improve in later years, the overwhelming dependence of Nepal on external assistance for each and every aspect of the national development activities remains a continuing reality (Dhungana, 1976). That excessive dependence on external assistance has had significant influence on the setting of priorities by Nepal, including those related to the environment.

At that time, the national priority was to create physical and institutional infrastructure, expand literacy and education, and to implement programmes such as the eradication of malaria and smallpox, the principal causes of the high death rate resulting from diseases. Thus, a large proportion of public sector resources was allocated to such sectors as transport and communication, and to the expansion of the human resource base and physical facilities for public administration. The country succeeded in creating some physical and institutional infrastructure, significantly improving the mortality and literacy rates, e.g., the infant and crude mortality rates were reduced to 102 and 13.8, respectively, by 1995/96 (Ministry of Finance, 1996), and increasing the literacy rate to around 40 per cent by 1996. However, the government was still unable to address the problems of high population growth and its pressure on the land and land-based resources. Thus, by 1991/92, population density had nearly doubled to 126 persons per sq km, and the pressure on arable land had almost quadrupled to 11.8, 8.25, and 5.04 persons per hectare in the mountains, hills, and plains, respectively, with a national average of 6.60 persons per hectare (Central Bureau of Statistics, 1994a).